Bogus student warnings ignored

The UK Border Agency ignored more than 150,000 warnings in three years from
universities and colleges concerned that their foreign students were bogus,
a damning report reveals.

The UK Border Agency ignored more than 150,000 warnings in three years from universities and colleges concerned that their foreign students were bogusPhoto: ALAMY

By Wesley Johnson, Home Affairs Correspondent

9:39PM GMT 28 Nov 2012

Staff failed to check tens of thousands of tips-offs about overseas students including worries that some had not even enrolled at the start of term.

The blunder meant 23,000 bogus students were allowed to remain in Britain when they should have been sent home, many of whom have still not been traced.

John Vine, the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, said it demonstrated a ‘significant failure,’ while MPs called for officials to hand back their bonuses.

It also emerged that compliance officers who visited universities and colleges had no powers of arrest, so could take ‘little or no action’ even if they found someone had no right to be in the country.

Some 153,000 warnings were issued by sponsors in the three years to March this year, but inspectors found the agency had no targets to address them and “they were only dealt with when resources permitted”.

“There is little point in requiring universities and colleges to notify the agency of such cases unless the agency develops the willingness and capacity to identify, curtail the leave of, and remove students who are no longer complying with the terms of their entry clearance,” Mr Vine said.

It comes after a damning report last week found the agency made virtually no effort to trace more than 120,000 asylum seekers and migrants, despite reassuring MPs that “extensive checks” were being carried out.

Jonathan Sedgwick, the agency’s director of international operations and visas, and its former chief executive Lin Homer both apologised to MPs for inadvertently supplying the wrong information.

Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons home affairs select committee, said it was “extremely disappointing that last week’s damning report did not mark the end of revelations about UKBA’s incompetence”.

“Both the committee and the government have been clear about the importance of removing bogus students from this country,” he said.

“On the basis of these two reports, senior officials at the UKBA who oversaw this shambles should hand their bonuses back immediately.”

The figures will make uncomfortable reading for the Coalition which has pledged to clampdown on bogus students and has closed down 500 colleges in the past 18 months.

In August border officials stripped London Metropolitan University of its right to sponsor non-EU students leaving more than 2,000 students facing deportation.

In today’s report, Mr Vine said he could find “no evidence that targets were in place to effectively manage notifications to the agency from sponsors that students were, for example, not attending courses”.

“Over 150,000 notifications had accumulated and were awaiting action, meaning that potentially thousands of students had retained leave to remain when they should not have done so,” he said.

“This was a significant failure.”

Mr Vine also drew a “concerning parallel between the agency’s lack of proactivity on these cases and its failure to deal with the 159,000 cases in the migration refusal pool”, which lists people refused permission to stay in the UK but who have not been traced.

More than 350,000 applications for student visas were made in 2010/11 and, at the time of the inspection between the end of April and July, 2,100 universities, colleges and language schools were registered as sponsors.

The 153,000 warnings over potential bogus students included 62,085 reports of a significant change to a student’s circumstances, 29,001 reports of a university or college having stopped sponsoring a student and 16,314 warnings that a student had discontinued his or her studies.

A further 31,930 notifications warned that a student had failed to enrol on the course within the correct timeframe, 11,697 said students had missed contacts without permission and 1,766 reported a student may have breached the conditions of his or her leave to remain in the UK.

Mr Vine added that compliance officers who visited universities and colleges “did not have a power of arrest and could take little or no action if they encountered someone who was in breach of immigration laws”.

If they found a student who had overstayed under the terms of their existing visa, the officer could only refer the issue to an enforcement team, he said.

“They had to leave the sponsor premises and the student and hope that the follow-up action was carried out.

“This was an area of weakness which the agency should address.”

Chris Bryant, the shadow immigration minister, said: “Time and time again the chief inspector has found problems with UKBA.

“The blame for this lies squarely at Theresa May’s door for cutting 5,000 staff from UKBA.”

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of the Migration Watch UK campaign group, added the report showed “tens of thousands of students seem to have disappeared”.

“Bogus students are running circles round the Home Office who are seriously under-staffed,” he said.

“The way to deal with this is to weed out these students before they arrive and interviews are the way to do it.”

But Mark Harper, the immigration minister, said the government was tackling the “historically high levels of abuse in the student visa system”, toughening up the rules “to ensure that genuine students are not taken advantage of by organisations looking to sell immigration not education”.

A UKBA spokesman added the agency reviewed all the cases in May and curtailed the leave of 23,000 students. Work is under way to trace them and remove them from the UK.

“There were a number of notifications that were outstanding - these have now been worked through,” he said.

“Compliance action has been taken where necessary and as a result over 23,000 students have had their leave curtailed.

“We have taken action to make sure these people have left the country through our work with Capita.

“We prefer people to leave the UK voluntarily - those who do not depart voluntarily will continue to be removed.”